Living While Black2 min read

“Living While Black”.

This is an unfortunate term that has been coined to describe African Americans getting the cops called on them by White people for just living. One of the first instances of this that went viral happened in a Starbucks in Philadelphia.

Two men were waiting for a business partner to arrive when one had to use the restroom. The store’s manager refused to allow him to use it and tried to make the men leave because they had sat and waited without ordering anything.

When they refused to leave she called the cops on them. The men were arrested and escorted out of the building, but were not charged with anything.  The manager was later fired. Instances like this that happened over the past year were compiled by NBC Chicago.

There were 14 other instances. One of these instances happened at Yale. Sarah Braasch called the cops on Lolade Siyonbloa for sleeping in a common room. The cops came and had Siyonbloa show her ID card to confirm that she was a student.

After they did this they told Braasch that “this was not a police matter”.

Most recent example of this trend is that of a professor at the University of Texas San Antonio. She called the cops on a Black student who put her feet up during class.

The university’s president has said that the teacher has been removed from teaching the class for the remainder of the semester. He also stated that two investigations would be started to look into this incident.

As a half Black girl who’s from America, these things honestly scare me. I go to school in Philadelphia. I’ve been to the Starbucks where the men got the cops called on them. I know very well that something like this could happen to me.

In all of these incidents what the Black person is doing is harmless and there is no reason to get the police. They unfortunately speak to racial climate in the US.

 

Photo by Roman Koester on Unsplash